1963 John Coltrane Music Finally Surfaces – Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album
Jazz fans have always delighted when a “new” recording appears, translating “new” to mean a live performance or studio recording from decades ago that has finally seen the light of day. John Coltrane fans in particular have enjoyed numerous such releases.
Consider these packages:
1997 The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings
2002 A Love Supreme (Deluxe Edition) — including the only live performance from 1965
2005 One Down, One Up Live at the Half Note (1965)
2005 Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (1957)
2006 Fearless Leader (all Prestige recordings as leader 1957-58)
2007 Interplay (all Prestige recordings as collaborator 1956-58)
2009 Side Steps (all Prestige recordings as sideman 1956-58)
Now comes news that the family of Juanita Naima Coltrane, his first wife, has turned over to Impulse! Records Coltrane’s personal copy of this 1963 session. The “new” recording will contain seven tracks. A deluxe edition with two disks will include seven alternates. The single and deluxe versions are also available on vinyl.
When discographer David Wild published his Coltrane work in 1977 (with several updates), the track listing for 63-3 (later revised as 63-0306) read as follows:
a. 11382 “Vilia” (F. Lehar, arr. J. Coltrane) 4:35
Imp A9101
b. 11383 “Untitled Original” (J. Coltrane)
c. 11384 “Nature Boy” (E. Ahbez)
d. 11385 “Untitled Original” (J. Coltrane)
e. 11386 “Untitled Original” (J. Coltrane)
f. 11387 “Untitled Original” (J. Coltrane)
g. 11388 “Slow Blues — Original” (J. Coltrane)
Imp unissued
This was the classic John Coltrane Quartet with McCoy Tyner, piano, Jimmy Garrison, bass, and Elvin Jones, drums.
“Vilia” appeared in 1972 on an Impulse! album titled The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 3 (A collection of rare and previously unreleased recordings) along with recordings by McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Oliver Nelson, Archie Shepp and more. “Vilia” later appeared on a Coltrane double-vinyl album called From the Master Tapes and then in the box set The Classic Quartet-Complete Impulse! Recordings. None of the other tracks had ever been released. The master numbers are those assigned by Impulse! at the time of the recording session, which was held at Rudy van Gelder’s recording haven in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
“11383” has just been released, and “11386” is the other “new” Coltrane composition. In no particular order 11385 and 11387 are “Impressions” and “One Up, One Down,” both obviously untitled at the time of the recording. “Slow Blues” is an eleven-and-a-half minute workout, almost all Coltrane. His son Ravi was involved in putting this release together, including the track order. Ravi commented, “On this record, you do get a sense of John with one foot in the past and one foot headed toward his future.” This album dovetails between Ballads (1962) and Crescent (1964). It was recorded one day before the magnificent John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, Coltrane’s only recording with a vocalist.
Listening to “Vilia” and “11383,” it is easy to understand Ravi’s remark.
As best we can surmise, the second disk will contain alternate versions of “Vilia,” “”11383,” “11386” (2 versions), “Impressions” (3 versions), and “One Up, One Down.” We’ll see how that works out soon. According to information received from Impulse!, the new album is titled Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album, and it is set for release on June 29.
Of course I’ve already preordered!
And, for us math geeks: